ABSTRACT
Throughout the 1970s air and water pollution control was the main focus of U.S. environmental improvement efforts. While much was written during that period on the need to take a "materials balance" approach to environmental policy—that is, to recognizee that what goes in must come out—the disposal of solid and liquid wastes on land received relatively little attention. Viewed primarily as a local or regional problem of littering and trash removal, solid waste disposal was seen as secondary to pressing public health and amenity issues associated with air and water pollution.
